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    choking on food-longish read

    Just want to give a heads up if anyone is choking on food and by themselves. I pray that you never experience this situation, but if you do, maybe this will help.
    I had that experience last night at dinner and it was quite possibly the closest I have ever come to dying. It scared me to death but I got lucky, thank you Jesus. I was completely blocked off and I could not breathe, I was in a bind. I immediately tried coughing it up but that didn’t work, took a sip of water and that didn’t work, so I thrust my abdomen onto the countertop a self-induced Heimlich maneuver. I was working hard and did not want to die and after several attempts I was able to dislodge enough of the food to start breathing again. I could still tell that I was blocked off but I was able to breathe. I took a sip of water (bad thing to do) and it closed my air path and I could not breathe so I had to thrust myself onto the counter top again and again. I really thought I had messed up, but once again I was able to get a path opened back up and could breathe. I did this a few times hoping water would help dislodge the obstruction but all it did was shut me off every time. Lesson learned….do not drink water if you have a major obstruction in your esophagus. At this time I should have called 911 but I didn’t. I was breathing but I was still partially blocked. I was constantly thinking that something would shift and would completely block me off. Again, I should of called 911 but didn’t. I could talk, I could walk. I decided to check the internet for any solutions to my situation. I typed in obstruction in throat and choking but able to breathe. I found several web sites with numerous solutions and the one I chose was drink a coke or Pepsi. I grabbed a Pepsi and took several small sips and within a few seconds my throat was completely opened up. Not sure what happened there but boy was I relieved. So this morning/today I can’t talk, my throat is very sore my stomach is bruised but I am alive. Thank you Jesus!!!! The reason I am posting this is to make people, my friends, and family aware that if they have a food obstruction, a carbonated drink not water should be consumed. I did not know this but it saved my ***!!!!
    Note: Oxygen stored in the lungs can keep you alive for several minutes if your breathing is blocked. But if you don’t get the obstruction—the food—removed within four to six minutes, your brain can start to suffer serious damage. Irreversible brain death occurs in about 10 minutes.
    Try to keep calm and act fast—your life depends on it. If you are completely blocked off:
    1. Thrust yourself on a chair or counter top. Yes it’s the same action you’d use to help someone else who is choking, but you’d be doing it on yourself. Make a fist with one hand and put the thumb side between your belly button and rib cage. Then place your other hand on top of that. Push as hard as you can in a quick motion straight into the area. This will exert pressure on the bottom of the diaphragm, which compresses the lungs and forces the remaining air to push up through the trachea—hopefully with enough pressure to dislodge the food.
    2. If that’s not working, keep your hands in the same position and lean quickly over the back of a sturdy chair or the island bar or counter top to exert more force into the push. This provides a hard pressure wave designed to drive air upward, providing enough force to propel the food out of its stuck position.
    3. If five or six quick thrusts isn’t doing the job, call 911 immediately, preferably from a landline. At this point, you’ve likely lost quite a bit of air and even though you can’t speak, and may pass out soon, emergency responders can help.
    4. And the most important tip in my opinion is drinking a can of Coke/Pepsi, or another carbonated beverage, this can help dislodge food stuck in the esophagus. Doctors and emergency workers often utilize this simple technique to break up food. Although they don’t know exactly how it works, doctors believe that the carbon dioxide gas in soda helps disintegrate the food. It’s also thought that some of the soda gets into the stomach, which then releases gas. The pressure of the gas can dislodge the stuck food.

    #2
    Dang. Glad you are okay. Scary for sure.

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      #3
      That's scary. Glad you made it through.

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        #4
        Been there done that. Go to a ENT and have them run a camera. I have a condition where my throat constricts due to stomachs acid. I take medication. And once or twice a year they do a procedure that opens my throat back up or opens the restriction. It took my 3rd case like you described before I went to a specialist.
        The acid in the Pepsi broke the obstruction up and enabled you to clear it

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          #5
          dang...what did you eat?

          when i was in college i was in a hurry to get to the gym and threw a scoop of creatine powder in my mouth and was walking to the sink to get a glass of water to wash it down. before i got there (like an idiot) i took a breath and the powder coated my entire throat and i literally could not breath. like you, i ran to the sink and started sipping water and all it did was cake the stuff up.

          i was alone and started to panic, cant exactly remember how it happened but i know i was coughing and hacking and gagging enough to get enough of it up that i could finally breathe and then was able to get some water down to wash it out. it was probably a good 20-30 seconds of panic mode where i could not breathe in or out, scared the **** out of me.

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            #6
            That is scary stuff right there. I've had a few times where i'm close to that happening and it's a really hard swallow, eyes instantly blinking like mad and panic sets in. My close call was on a twinkie about 20 years ago. Guess that sponge bread stuff did it. That's what I get for eating one of those!

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              #7
              Originally posted by glen View Post
              Been there done that. Go to a ENT and have them run a camera. I have a condition where my throat constricts due to stomachs acid. I take medication. And once or twice a year they do a procedure that opens my throat back up or opens the restriction. It took my 3rd case like you described before I went to a specialist.
              The acid in the Pepsi broke the obstruction up and enabled you to clear it
              I’ve got the same thing but not from acid, just my esophagus is too small so they go in a couple times a year and stretch it out. Weird thing for me is the last 3-4 times it’s happened to me it’s been chicken. Looking back I’d say every incident I had other than 1 or 2 has been chicken.

              Glad you’re okay OP. It’s a scary feeling
              Last edited by hooligan; 09-12-2019, 09:40 AM.

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                #8
                Thanks for the thread! Never really thought about it happening by myself, but now that I live alone it definitely could happen. Better to have a plan than googling what to do while choking Glad you made it thru ok!

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                  #9
                  Had this happen with the ex-wife. came home from work one day and she was sitting on the floor in the kitchen and looked like someone just whooped up on her she was so out of breath and kinda just out of it. She was eating raw veggies while cooking and somehow got a piece of carrot stuck in her throat. she said it felt like hours that she couldnt breath and she was for sure i was going to find her dead on the floor. she was in such an adrenaline state she cant to this day remember how she got it out.

                  Scary stuff OP glad you are ok!

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                    #10
                    Glad your ok

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                      #11
                      Glad your ok Thanks for posting, I would have never thought about soda.

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                        #12
                        My uncle had a similar experience eating a sandwich while out working in his yard.
                        As a last resort he cut his water hose and jammed it down his throat. Tore him up pretty good but he lived.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by jshouse View Post
                          dang...what did you eat?

                          when i was in college i was in a hurry to get to the gym and threw a scoop of creatine powder in my mouth and was walking to the sink to get a glass of water to wash it down. before i got there (like an idiot) i took a breath and the powder coated my entire throat and i literally could not breath. like you, i ran to the sink and started sipping water and all it did was cake the stuff up.

                          i was alone and started to panic, cant exactly remember how it happened but i know i was coughing and hacking and gagging enough to get enough of it up that i could finally breathe and then was able to get some water down to wash it out. it was probably a good 20-30 seconds of panic mode where i could not breathe in or out, scared the **** out of me.
                          I had made a combination shrimp/chicken etoufee. I had cut the shrimp and chicken into small pieces.

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                            #14
                            More than likely you may have EoE - Eosinophilic esophagitis

                            Go see an ENT asap

                            If this happens again, and it is in fact lodged in your esophagus and not your trachea (windpipe), NEVER try and force it down

                            Glad you were able to make it through this episode.

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                              #15
                              Glad you are ok

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